The Too Young series: Staying Focused
by Diana2122
Summary: Ziva is having difficulties staying focused and neither Gibbs nor Ducky is happy. Warning: Corporal Punishment of an adult in this story.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Staying Focused

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on NCIS, I'm just borrowing them for the story.

Warnings: Corporal Punishment of an adult in this story. If it's not your thing then don't read this story, you have been warned.

A/N: I usually try to avoid writing several stories at the same time, but I had an idea to a story that just wouldn't leave me alone so I hope you'll be patient with me. This story was inspired by the father/daughter relationship between Gibbs and Ziva in the beginning of season 7, though I'm not sure now that I've actually written the first chapter if I'm going to proceed the way I had planned with this story. I am planning on writing a sequel to it though and I think there will be more of Gibbs there.

This story takes place when Ziva is still fairly new to Gibbs' team on NCIS, somewhere between season three and four.

Please let me know what you think of the story and this idea.

* * *

Ziva David crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. How long was he going to continue his instructions before letting them get to work on the body? She was feeling extremely restless and was quite anxious to do something other than stand there and listen. She loved Ducky but sometimes she really just wished he would be a little less long winded.

It was Monday morning and a group of twenty two NCIS Field Agents were gathered around an autopsy table, watching Ducky show them how to take the liver temperature on a dead body to estimate time of death. The problem, according to the brown haired impatient former Mossad Officer, was that they had been standing there listening to instructions for the past hour. She glanced around at some of the probies who were eagerly scribbling down notes on sheets of paper as they kept a close eye on Ducky, afraid they would miss something important during the few seconds it took them to look down at their piece of paper to write. As if he hadn't already covered all the important parts, she thought.

She had stayed up a little too late the night before and lost a few hours sleep because of that. She hadn't thought it would matter as soon as she got to work anyway because she seldom lost focus while in the field or in the bullpen because of a little lack of sleep. But she had forgotten about their orders to report to autopsy at 0800 to attend a lesson from Ducky and was quite surprised when Gibbs growled at her to get her butt out of her chair and down to autopsy at 0805. Rushing through the doors to autopsy five minutes late had earned her a glare from Ducky as he pointed to a spot between Tony and McGee and she hurried to plant herself there.

Ziva sighed again, this time more deeply. She didn't want to offend Ducky in any way but enough was enough. Another fifteen minutes had now passed and he was still going on and on. She felt herself drift off in deep thoughts as she fixed her eyes on a spot on the white wall on the other side of the room. Her mind was certainly not focused on liver temperatures when she heard someone call her name from far away. Suddenly she felt a sharp elbow in her ribs and she snapped out of her mist with a jerk. Only to find herself face to face with an agitated Doctor Mallard.

"Officer David!" he repeated in a sharp tone of voice. "What ever frivolous activities you were up to last night I suggest you get your mind off them and back where they belong – which is with the rest of this group, listening to my instructions."

Her eyes did not leave Ducky but she could hear Tony snicker on her left side and wanted nothing more than to give him a piece of her tired mind. She could see some of the other agents looking at her. She figured they were the ones that dared do so. Some of them were grinning and others frowning, looking as if they wanted to show her how much they disliked her behavior. That made her angry. What business was it of theirs what she did during work hours? She mumbled a sorry to Ducky who held her stare for a while but then looked away and continued the lesson. She made a good attempt to get back to focusing on what the M.E was saying but he seemed to never want to stop talking. How much information could possibly be worth delivering on this topic anyway? After an additional fifteen minutes she sighed deeply again and rolled her eyes as Ducky began telling them of previous cases he had handled where establishing time of death had been quite essential to later solving the case.

Would this nightmare ever end Ziva wondered. She was bored and very tired and desperate to get back to work. Ducky had gone back to briefing them on vital things but she could feel herself start to relax her senses again and her mind start to focus on other things in her head. She could feel her eyes widen like they usually did when she chose to think about something else but wanted to make it look like she was still focusing.

A loud bang! brought her back to reality and she looked up. Ducky had slammed his palm onto the autopsy table and was glowering angrily at her. "Officer David!" he barked, louder this time. He put down the instrument he had in his hand. "Would it be too bold to accuse you of not paying ANY attention what so ever to my lesson?"

Ziva wasn't sure how to answer that question. She opened her mouth but no words came out so she closed it again.

"I think not – because it is a bloody fact!" he yelled but then quickly calmed some before he continued speaking, though keeping a very strict tone of voice "My dear girl, I have taught people at University level. Therefore I have worked up my ability to spot the ones who think they can fool me into thinking they are paying attention." he stepped around the table, forcing a few Agents to move out of his way in the process as he approached Ziva. "Now, I usually only give them one chance to get their heads back into the game, so to speak, and you just had TWO." he locked eyes with her and when she made an attempt at speaking to defend herself he just held up a hand. "Not a word, please." he said. " I'm going to be so kind as if to give you one last chance though. And I had better not catch you doing what you just did again."

She nodded and stared at the floor in front of her. She had never been good at forcing herself to take interest in something that she saw absolutely no point in, and she obviously hadn't gotten any better at it since she arrived at NCIS either. She tried to glue her eyes to Ducky and that damn autopsy table and decided on not letting any distractions enter her mind. There would be NO distractions. Definitely not. None what so ever. She would listen and pay attention and not let her thoughts wander off and...

"Officer David!!"

Oh boy.

To be continued


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Staying Focused

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on NCIS, I'm only borrowing them for the story.

Warnings: Corporal Punishment of an adult in this story. If it's not your thing then don't read this story. You have been warned.

A/N: The second chapter of this story is now finished and I will start working on the third chapter as soon as possible. I'm not planning on making this story very long but you can expect at least two more chapters before it's finished.

Also, if you see any errors in grammar or anything please let me know. It would be nice to know so I don't repeat the same mistake twice. Thank you.

CHAPTER 2

The room was in complete silence as Ducky fixed Ziva with a stare that resembled one of a beast about to devour its prey. Ziva didn't want to admit it but she felt a little worried about what was on the Medical examiner's mind at that moment. Her thoughts had drifted off again, as she had been unable to prevent herself from doing so despite her efforts.

Tony and McGee both glanced at each other and gulped slightly. Neither one of them had ever seen Ducky so mad. Ziva had really managed to bring out a scary side of him. McGee glanced at his watch. He knew the lesson was scheduled to be over ten minutes ago so Gibbs would probably be down there soon to see what was keeping his agents. That did not bode well for Ziva, he thought, feeling sorry for his friend who might have to face both an angry Ducky _and_ an angry former Gunnery Sergeant Gibbs.

Ducky had his stare fixed on Ziva and forced her to squirm for at least a minute. The former Mossad agent refused to look away fore doing so would for her be to admit defeat. It wasn't until Tony finally spoke up, reminding Ducky of the time, that he finally let her escape his stern gaze.

"Yes, Anthony. I am aware of the time. But as the one conducting this lesson I reserve the right to allow myself to finish when I see fit." he turned back to Ziva and frowned "You stay after class, Miss David." he said sharply. "We are going to have a conversation about punctuality and appropriate behavior." He then looked out at the group of faces before him and smiled warmly at them. "I'd like to thank you all for your time and attention. Good luck out there." he said, waving his hand that they could leave.

Ziva could not believe it. She had spent the last hour wishing for the torturous lesson to be over and now that it finally was, she was going to have to stay even longer. It simply wasn't fair. She had done her best to stay focused...at least in the end. She didn't deserve to have to stay after class like some little school girl.

Tony put a comforting hand on Ziva's shoulder as he and McGee turned to leave without her. Oh how she wished she could go with them. She glanced carefully at Ducky who had moved over to the sink to wash his hands, and upon seeing his grim face she wondered if it would be such a bad idea to sneak out with the others. Though she had during the past hour and a half found that he was indeed a much more attentive person than she had ever known before so she probably wouldn't make it to the doors anyway.

When the doors had closed behind the others Ducky turned to the slightly nervous Ziva. He quickly crossed the room over to where she was standing by the autopsy table and placed himself in front of her. "Did I not make myself clear earlier?" he asked. "Did I not make it clear that I was indeed giving you your very last chance to stay focused and listen to my instructions?"

She suddenly became aware that he was expecting an answer. "Ducky, I..." she started but was quickly interrupted again.

"Didn't I, Officer David?!" he said louder to bring her back on target.

She nodded. "Yes." she said, keeping her face free from remorse. It was the Mossad way of doing things during interrogations and even though she didn't feel threatened in that way now, she still felt she needed to defend her innocence.

"Then why didn't you listen when I told you to?" he asked, letting his voice grow a little softer.

She stood silently with her arms at her sides, trying her best not to yawn, but she felt one coming on soon.

"Answer me, Ziva. Why didn't you?"

"I do not know...exactly. I...I guess I did not think it was important." she answered, unable to stop herself from adding a yawn at the end of the sentence. Honesty was not always in ones best interest though, at least not when it came to saving ones hide, and she did not meant to say it quite like it came out. Although now it was already too late.

She watched Ducky's eyes grow darker and his anger quickly return after hearing her answer. Although she could also feel the fatigue she was experiencing from the lack of sleep the night before forcing some anger of her own to boil up.

"Are you telling me that you chose to completely ignore me because you felt that my lesson, that you had been ordered to attend by your superiors, was not worth your attention?" he asked in a now cold, slightly threatening voice. He raised a brow, waiting for her answer.

Ziva frowned as she started to feel annoyed at the never ending questions of the older man. "You know..." she started but was once again interrupted by Ducky.

"Just answer the question!"

"Yes! Okay?! I thought Gibbs and the Director were wrong to make us attend this class and since I did not find any information here worth wasting my energy taking in, I chose to concentrate on my thoughts at the moment!" she got it all out in one single breath. "And I do not think YOU had any right to yell at me for that in front of the others!"

They stood staring at each other for several moments and during that time Ziva realized without even hearing Ducky use words, that she had just pissed off the wrong man at NCIS. Gibbs had been angry with her before and even occasionally been quite hard on her during that time, but never before had Ducky shown disappointment or anger towards her. She had known from the first time she had met Gibbs that there was a side to him that you wouldn't want to piss off, but she had never felt that Ducky in a bad mood would be such a big deal.

"Oh, so you don't think I had any right, do you, Miss David?"

"No, I do not!" she yelled in frustration, struggling to maintain some kind of control and dignity even though she knew he was angry with her and she didn't like it. "I am not some little girl in a class room and I think I should be treated with a little more respect!"

"The same respect you showed me by being late and choosing to focus on completely different things than my instructions?" Ducky asked calmly. His now calm tone of voice somehow frightened Ziva more than his earlier more stern and scolding tone. In his face she could read that he had come to some sort of decision, and that was probably what was calming him down slightly. "And if you are not some little girl" he continued "then perhaps you shouldn't behave like one and instead try to behave more like an adult in a Federal Agency."

Ducky's words stung. She had not thought of her ways as disrespectful. Or at least not the way he was describing them to her. Sure, she knew she was supposed to be paying attention. Both Gibbs and the Director had made it clear that they felt this was valuable information and skills for Field Agents to acquire. But she had thought that if she could just do things the way she usually did when she felt she didn't need the information she was being provided, then nobody would find out. How was she supposed to know Ducky could tell when she put her brain in a sleeping state? Nobody else had ever been able to before.

"Now, I was planning on letting this whole matter be after we had spoken but since you keep giving me so much attitude and don't seem to even understand that what you did was wrong, I choose to now inform Gibbs of this incident." Ducky announced and watched some color drain from the Agent's face.

For the first time that morning Ziva hung her head a little, wanting to avoid the gaze of the person she had disappointed and offended.

"Oh, and I DO have the right, Officer David, to verbally chastise you in front of the others. I do have the right since I am the one conducting a class and therefore YOU answer to me. And if you choose to let your thoughts drift off or behave disrespectfully then I see it as my responsibility to correct that behavior. " he sighed and took off his glasses to polish them with his sleeve. "Though I am aware that you have a very protective boss with a high sense of moral and responsibility towards his people. So, I will wait with deciding your punishment until I have spoken to Jethro on the matter."

Ziva was not sure what would be worse. Having to answer to Ducky alone right now...or have Gibbs find out as well. She knew he would not be pleased. She had been on the receiving end of some punishment from her boss a few times. But it had only been mild things such as not being allowed to go out into the field and instead have to work from her desk for a few days, or have to stay after hours and clean both insides and outsides of the truck by herself. She had a feeling though that Gibbs could hand out worse forms of punishment and she had gotten a few hints from Abby that he actually could resort to more physical forms if he felt it was necessary.

She did understand that what she had done was not the smartest thing, especially since she was caught doing it. But she still did not feel she deserved to be punished for it. She looked up into the angry face of Ducky once again and decided it was time to make peace with the usually so gentle Medical Examiner. "I do understand that you feel I acted disrespectfully towards you, Ducky. And I assure you that it will not happen again." she said, took a breath and added "I do however not believe it to be necessary to inform Gibbs of my earlier actions and I will not allow you to punish me for such a small offense as this." she informed him as she pushed her shoulders back and held her chin high in order to convince him that she would not be swayed.

She did not take a step back, though she felt like it, when Ducky moved an inch closer to her and looked deep into her eyes. "It doesn't matter what your opinion is on the matter, Officer David. And I assure you that if you make a decision to start walking towards those doors, you will find the consequences of that decision very bad for you." Without taking his eyes off her he pointed towards a corner on the other side of the room. "Now, you go stand in that corner until I tell you you can turn around. You will remain there until Jethro arrives."

Ziva just stared at the corner Ducky pointed at in disbelief. Had she heard right? There was no way she was going to stand in the corner. She had not been put in a corner since she was ten years old and even back then it had been a form of punishment that she had dreaded. She hated facing a corner, there was nothing more boring in the world to her. "There is no way, Ducky." she finally said as she shook her head.

"Would you like me to escort you there myself? Because that is what's going to happen if you refuse to do as I tell you to."

Ziva sighed and rolled her eyes at the older man's question and threat. This was a complete waste of time. She was needed upstairs and instead she was being kept down in autopsy for no other reason than pissing off Ducky.

"You roll your eyes at me _ONE MORE TIME_, young lady, and I won't wait for Jethro to get down here. I will find a suitable punishment for you myself!"

Ziva was surprised when she felt Ducky take hold of her upper arm and start walking her across the room. Her eyes widened a little when she realized they were headed straight to the corner he had instructed her to face. She resisted a little but didn't break loose, even though she could, because she did respect the older man's authority and it also didn't help that right now he was even madder than a minute ago.

He let go of her arm as soon as they reached the corner and took hold of her shoulders, turning her so that she was facing the corner and nothing else. "You stay RIGHT THERE. You had better not turn around or you will regret it later after I've had a word with Jethro."

He stood and waited for her to in some way acknowledge that she had heard him. When she didn't say anything he added, "Is that clear?"

"Yes." she mumbled quietly. She was left with her thoughts as Ducky went back to work, keeping a close eye on her from the other side of the room.

This was going to be a _very_ _long_ _day_.

To be continued


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Staying Focused

Disclaimer: I don't own the character on NCIS, I'm just borrowing them for the story.

A/N: So, here is chapter three. I hope you like it. Please let me know what you think. It really motivates to keep writing. Thanks!

Chapter 3

The doors opened and Gibbs entered autopsy. He had gotten a call from Ducky asking him if could come down for a talk. Tony and McGee had come up to the bullpen a while ago and Gibbs had noticed Ziva's absence but had chosen not to ask about the reason right away. What he saw when he entered made him sigh deeply. Ziva was standing facing the corner with her head slightly bent down. It was obvious to him, because of the fact that she was standing there, that she had done something pretty big in Ducky's book. Knowing how much the old Medical Examiner liked Ziva Gibbs felt sure he never would have punished her otherwise.

He made his way over to her and noticed that she didn't turn around. He reached out and touched her shoulder as soon as he was close enough. Ziva jumped slightly and turned her head.

She was very surprised to see Gibbs standing behind her, she had expected Ducky. He had left the room approximately five minutes ago and she had thought it was just him returning. Therefore she had not turned around, knowing he would be furious if she did so.

They looked at each other in silence for a while, until Gibbs finally raised a brow in question and asked "Why are you standing here?"

She turned around fully to look at him. "I...I" she stuttered in a low tone of voice, trying to look directly at him but finding it difficult to do so.

"Ducky put you here?" Gibbs helped her on the way a bit.

Ziva nodded and glanced at him. There was no anger yet but it was bound to surface as soon as Ducky showed up and told him about what happened.

"Why?"

Gibbs had never been a man of many words, so the simple question didn't exactly come as a surprise to her.

When she didn't answer he took hold of her chin and turned her head so that she was forced to look into his eyes. "Why?" he asked again, slightly more determined this time.

"Because she did not behave with the proper decorum of an NCIS agent. And then there is the fact that when I later tried to question her about her behavior she acted even more disrespectfully toward me which led to her currently being placed in the corner."

Ducky had entered the room and answered the question for her. Ziva could see Gibbs eyebrows start to draw towards each other in a frown. She then looked at Ducky and felt him pin her with a hard look with an annoyed expression written on his face. "Why aren't you facing that corner, young lady? I thought I specifically told you NOT to turn around."

Ziva did not move. She was getting tired of this punishment. It had taken at least thirty minutes for Gibbs to arrive and she had been staring at that awful corner the entire time without turning around. She ignored Ducky and instead turned with a somewhat pleading look to Gibbs for help.

He smiled but it certainly wasn't a kind smile, it was more of a smile that said she shouldn't expect any sympathy from him in this case. "Oh no, you don't." he said as his smile faded and was replaced by his stare. Oh God how she hated that stare of his, and being the one subjected to it. "If Ducky made a decision to put you in the corner then I'm sure he had good reason to." she sighed and rolled her eyes, for a second forgetting who she was defying. Gibbs took hold of her upper arm and quickly turned her back so that she was once again facing the corner. "YOU stay there until we have talked!" he yelled in his Gunnery Sergeant voice and actually made her jump. Uh oh, she realized she had just made him even angrier than he would have been after just hearing Ducky's story about the morning events. "And then _maybe_ you can come out. Or perhaps we'll decide to leave you there an extra hour so you can think of a way to keep that temper of yours under control." he said and saw her shoulders slump a bit. He could see she was feeling sorry for herself, and that wasn't good. If anything she should be sorry for her actions that put her there.

Gibbs and Ducky walked out through the autopsy doors to stand next to the elevator. It was Ducky ho had steered his steps in that direction because he knew he would be able to see Ziva from out there while they talked. Otherwise he probably would have suggested they'd go for a cup of tea, which was what he really needed after this morning.

To be continued


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: Staying Focused**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on NCIS, I'm just borrowing them for the story.**

**CHAPTER 4**

"Jethro, I'm worried about that girl." Ducky stated as he glanced through the doors to make sure Ziva remained where they had left her.

"How come?"

"This morning she couldn't seem to keep her focus up. Or she didn't want to. I'm still not sure. But either way, if she continues with this sort of behavior and priorities they will become big problems for her. She has to be able to stay focused...no matter how tired or bored she is."

Gibbs nodded his head and leaned against the wall. "I agree."

"I told her twice to snap out of it this morning."

"And she didn't?"

"No. I actually got the feeling she made a choice to focus her head on something else. She didn't think I would notice her doing so. I have the ability to see when people who are attending lectures for me do what she did. A skill I picked up when I was teaching at the University in Britain."

Gibbs glowered in Ziva's direction. "She deserves to stay in that corner the rest of the day." he hissed. He could see his agent shift nervously from foot to foot.

"Well, I was actually going to let her off the hook with a stern warning this time..." Ducky trailed off as he followed Gibbs' glare to the female Agent in the next room.

Gibbs raised his eyebrows. "But?"

"But when she showed no remorse for her actions and a total lack of respect towards me then I decided to get you down here. I suppose I could let it go with just some additional corner time..."

Gibbs chuckled "Oh no, Duck, I don't think so. She knows better than to behave the way she did. The fact that I know she does respect you also shows that she was having a little temper tantrum this morning, and she needs to learn to keep that temper of hers under control."

Ducky sighed in defeat. He knew Gibbs was right but he could feel himself going soft now that his anger was disappearing. "I know you are right, Jethro, but..."

"No buts, Duck. She got herself in this mess." he declared and stepped closer to the doors, but kept his distance so they wouldn't open.

"So you believe she has earned herself more punishment?" Ducky asked with a sympathetic glance towards Ziva.

"Yes, I do."

"Well, I do know how you occasionally prefer to deal with your people when they step out of line. Are you planning on dealing with her the same way this time?" he asked.

"Nope."

Ducky looked at his old friend with surprise. "No? Then how...?"

Gibbs took a step closer to Ducky and put a hand on his shoulder. "I think you should be the one to take her in hand this time, Ducky. You are the one she disobeyed and the one she was disrespectful towards. I will inform her that you will be handling it and I assure you she will not cause problems."

Ducky nodded. He agreed that he should be the one to punish the girl, but he did not find the job easy. He had expected Gibbs to want to do it but now that he heard the Seniors Agent's words he felt there were a lot of truth to them indeed. "All right, Jethro. I will be fair."

"I expected nothing else from you, Ducky."

As Gibbs turned to walk through the doors to autopsy Ducky spoke up. "Um, Jethro." Gibbs stopped and turned again. "There is something I've been meaning to ask you about Ziva."

Gibbs stood stone faced, waiting for the question. He felt pretty sure though that he might already know what the question was.

Ducky continued "Since her arrival here I've had a feeling that she is not quite as 'old', if that is the accepted term to use while referring to a woman, that she herself claims to be. "

Gibbs tilted his head to the side and remained quiet for a minute. "You are as observant as always, Duck. And you are right. Ziva is younger than she's known to be around this agency."

"How young?"

"23 years old. Only me and Jenny know about it."

"I thought NCIS didn't accept people that young as Field Agents?"

"We don't. Jenny insisted though. She did it as a favor to Ziva for saving her life before joining NCIS as Mossad Liaison Officer. She bent the rules a bit in this case."

"Oh. Yes I suppose sometimes it benefits to be the Director of NCIS." Ducky said with a wink.

Gibbs grinned. Ducky was right. If Jenny hadn't been the Director then it would not have been possible for her to bring Ziva into the agency. "We are both keeping a close eye on her though. And she knows it. If she messes up in any way during work hours she will answer to me or Jenny for it."

Ducky scratched his chin in thought. This made him view Ziva in a slightly different light. She was indeed very young. Just as he had suspected from her behavior and from watching her attitude around Gibbs. "And you still feel I should be the one to punish her?" Ducky asked.

Gibbs nodded. "I do. She messed up during your class, not in the field or during a briefing, but down here in autopsy. And she chose to defy you when you tried to solve it. So yes, I think it'll be better with you this time." he stated and smiled when a thought entered his mind. "And besides, she expects me to do it. I think this way the lesson will be even more effective. She will not repeat the same mistake again."

Ducky nodded and signaled for Gibbs to go through the doors and then followed him inside.

To be continued


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Staying Focused

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on NCIS, I'm just borrowing them for the story.

A/N: I apologize for taking so long to finish this story, but I had to break the end up into at least two chapters because I felt it would be a bit too long otherwise. I'm hoping to be able to finish the next chapter in a couple of days.

CHAPTER 5

Ziva could hear Gibbs and Ducky both enter the room again. She wasn't sure what she wanted more at that point. She wanted to be let out of the corner but then she would have to face them, which was something she'd actually rather put on hold.

During the past hour she had contemplated just leaving the room but had found that she couldn't do it. She had tried to figure out why. The only other person in the entire world that she had ever been afraid of disappointing or facing when he was angry was her father. But since she had started working at NCIS that had changed. She hadn't realized it before, not really had the time to think about it that much either. But from her first day as Liaison Officer at NCIS she had come to respect Gibbs a lot. She had wanted to earn his respect and as soon as she felt sure she had accomplished that mission she did not want to loose that respect again. That was the reason she would submit to punishment such as the one the was enduring at the time. She respected his authority and as opposed to her father, she was one hundred pro cent sure that Gibbs was a good man. And he was responsible for her now. She did not feel as strongly about Ducky as she did for Gibbs but she did of course respect the older man a lot, who had a lot of knowledge and wisdom inside him. In a way the team was like a family. And besides, if she defied Ducky she would eventually have to answer to Gibbs for that and an angry Gibbs did in fact scare her some. A voice in the room made her depart from her thoughts and snap to attention, head up.

"Ziva, you can turn around now."

It was Ducky who had spoken to her from across the room. Slowly she turned and came face to face with Gibbs. She had hoped he would look less angry and perhaps even have calmed down some, but he looked the same as before. She gulped a little, hoping he wouldn't notice how nervous she was. Ducky was over by his desk, and appeared to be looking for something.

Gibbs took a step closer to his Agent who didn't seem to quite want to meet his eyes. "I hope you understand that your behavior today was unacceptable." he said straight to the point. He lowered his voice and whispered his next words to her "I also want you to really think about the fact that you chose Ducky of all people to act this way toward."

She darted her eyes away and gave a nod that she understood. His last words hurt a lot and she felt more and more ashamed of herself. She knew what he meant. She knew that he was referring to the gentle person Ducky was and how much he had tried to make her feel welcome since she got to NCIS. Even when some of the others had chosen not to be as helpful.

"I also want you to know that if I ever catch you doing what you did today again, your punishment will be worse than what you are about to get from Ducky."

Ziva's head shot up and she stared blankly at him for a brief moment. "Ducky?!" she asked, surprised and with some extent of fear in her beautiful brown eyes.

Gibbs nodded and stared her down once again. "Yes, Ducky. I have given him permission to handle this the way he sees best and I expect you to abide by that. Now if you don't, I will deal with you myself and believe me...if that happens you will wish you had chosen Ducky, because from me you will get twice what you would have gotten from him." he raised a brow and dared her to even start to protest but fortunately for Ziva's butt, she chose to remain quiet. Gibbs was upset with her and had no problem showing it to her. He would not tolerate disrespect such as the one Ziva had shown to Ducky. That was something the Marine Corps had drilled into him from the start and it was something he also wished for Ziva to learn. For her own sake as much as for everyone else s' in the office. Then there was the fact that Ducky was right about this becoming a problem for her if she continued to pick and choose the instructions she wanted and doing so by allowing her thoughts to drift off. That had to stop.

Finally she masted the courage to ask what she felt she needed to ask him. "Twice of _what_...exactly."

Gibbs tilted his head to the side and gave her a little devilish grin. "Oh I think you know."

Okay so that was it. She was doomed. She had suspected that she was going to be spanked since she first saw Gibbs' expression when Ducky told him what happened, but she had hoped she would be let off the hook with a warning. She could obviously kiss that hope goodbye. Though she was not used to going down without a fight, and she'd be damned if she was going to this time either. "So, you're going to punish me like some child then?" she said in an angry tone of voice. "I..."

"Well, why not?! You sure as hell acted like one! Besides, I seem to recall a certain conversation you and I had three months ago about following my orders, Officer David." Gibbs barked.

She gave him a puzzled look. Of course she remembered but what did that have to do with right now?

"I ordered you to attend that lecture for Ducky, because I thought the information it would provide would be useful for my Agents to have in the field. You chose to disobey my order."

Ziva shook her head from side to side, finally having something to object to. "No, I did not, Gibbs. I attended it. I _was_ here."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes dangerously at her. "And how much do you remember from it?"

Ziva thought back and was surprised to realize that she did not remember much. Some things from the beginning and some from the end but not much more than that. She had been thinking of other things at that time.

She didn't have to answer for him to know the answer to that question, it was written all over her face, not to mention the slight blush on her cheeks which was also a clear give away. "I thought as much. You would not be able to use any of that information in the field if needed to. Therefore you disobeyed my direct order to attend that lecture and learn what you needed to."

Ziva was beginning to regret ever coming in for work that morning. She desperately did not want to be spanked. There had to be a way out of it. "Director Shepherd will not approve if this punishment you want to give me." she said in a vain attempt to save her hide. She was actually not sure at all what Jenny would think of it but she was hoping Gibbs would believe her and at least hold up on punishing her until he had checked with her.

Gibbs and Jenny had informed Ziva when she started at NCIS that she was their responsibility and they had also reminded her that they were aware of her age and that she would do well to remember that if she got into trouble because she could expect to be punished a bit differently than the rest of the team. It wasn't until she had spoken to Abby that she had realized what Gibbs and Jenny had meant. Sure, sometimes Gibbs chose to use corporal punishment on members of his team but he usually did not choose corner time or writing lines for the rest of them as he had with Ziva. She also had a feeling that her spanking would be different than the ones given to the other team members. At least that was what they had hinted. Except perhaps Abby, who was only a couple of years older than herself.

Gibbs chuckled. "Nice try, Ziva." he said, feeling he had to give her some credit for trying to get out of the inevitable." But Director Shepherd has given me permission to deal with you in the way I see fit when you mess up." he gave her a knowing stare. "And you know that."

Ziva sighed in exasperation and defeat. "Oh come one Gibbs, please don't do this." she said as she glanced nervously in Ducky's direction. Suddenly Ducky stopped rummaging around in his desk and turned. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw what he had in his hand. A ruler!

She took a step back and into Gibbs. She felt him place his hands on her shoulders, preventing her from backing away any furhter. In a way it felt comforting, and in another way it made her feel trapped.

Ziva shook his hands off her and spun around and scowled at him. He raised both eyebrows at her wry face. He never had any difficulties seeing right through her tough attitude to her true feelings and fears. He could see that Ziva always tried making herself seem older than she really was and often by hiding her softer sides and her fears. Sure, she was a trained killer and he had no doubt she had encountered many dangerous situations during her years as a Mossad Officer. But that did not exclude the fact that there was a scared little girl underneath all that courage and pride. Right now she was scared of the pending punishment not far into the future. Gibbs didn't like seeing her frightened but she had earned a trip over someone's knee and he intended to see she got it. However, he didn't want her completely terrified either so he took her hand and walked her over to the autopsy table to a chair. He motioned for her to sit down on the chair and then stood himself in front her.

"Now you listen to me, Ziva." he said in a firm but more gentle tone than before. "The only reason we're doing this is because you earned it. I don't want to put you through this and neither does Ducky but we're going to no matter what you say about it." he put both hands of his hands on her shoulders again and bent down a little to look into her eyes. "I know you're scared but no one is going to beat you. Ducky is going to give you a spanking. There is a difference. And when it's over it's over."

Ziva looked up at him and all anger inside her was gone. All there was left was remorse. She had never had anyone speak to her that way before punishing her before and it warmed her heart to actually get to feel protected. Her father had never made her feel that way. Not even when she was a small child had he ever tried to calm her before spanking her. On the rare occasions he had even bothered to discipline her when she had done wrong, he had used his belt and it had always been done in anger.

Still she did not feel certain she was ready to submit to this yet. "But...I am an adult."she protested in a small voice.

Gibbs chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you are...in a way. But you are still the youngest agent I have ever trained and in my eyes you are not really fully an adult yet. Deal with it." he said with a twinkle in his eye though he meant every word. He then turned to Ducky who had joined them by the table. "I believe the two of you have some business to get to." he said and the Medical examiner nodded. Hearing that Gibbs made his usual quick exit, talking over his shoulder as he left. "I'll leave you to it then."

To be continued


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Staying Focused

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on NCIS, I'm just borrowing them for the story.

A/N: Okay so here is chapter 6. I feel like I'm dragging this out a little and I'm sorry but as it is now, the next chapter is supposed to wrap up this story. It has taken a little turn in a different direction from what I had first planned.

Also, thank you very much for your reviews, I really appreciate you letting me know what you think of the story.

* * *

CHAPTER 6

Ziva met Ducky's eyes and then looked away again. He noticed the sadness in her eyes that had replaced the previous anger. He thought it was nice to see the anger replaced with what ever she felt like replacing it with for the time being. She certainly carried a lot of anger and he felt certain it would be good for her to release some if it.

Suddenly Ziva looked up and met his gaze. "I am sorry, Ducky." she said, really letting it show how sincere she was.

He nodded and signaled for her to rise from her seat. "I know you are, my dear. And frankly...so am I."

Ziva knew he meant he was sorry for what he was about to do. She got to her feet and watched Ducky turn the chair around so the back of it was turned towards her. She took a step backwards without even realizing she was doing it but got no further before he had caught her small wrist and pulled her closer to where he was standing next to the chair. "Please don't add to the inconvenience you are in by giving me trouble. We both know I would be no real match for you if you tried to resist but..."

"I will not." she cut him off and he felt her relax slightly in his grasp. She had accepted that she deserved to be punished and had decided not to resist Ducky. She had hurt the man enough as it was.

He let her go and pointed to the back of the chair. "Bend over, please." he said. "Let's get this over with."

_Inside the head of Ziva_

_As she stepped over to the chair and bent over her mind took her back to a place she had not visited for a long time. She remembered an event from her childhood when she and her older brother Ari had been caught stealing in the market place in Tel Aviv. They had been apprehended by the police and their father, Director David, had been informed of their mischief. She had found herself in the same position then, bent over the back of a chair. The only difference had been that just when her father was about to take his belt to her behind Ari had burst through the door and insisted he was the soul perpetrator and that Ziva was completely innocent. Their father had never really cared much for finding the truth in situations like that so he had accepted Ari's tale and Ziva had been let off the hook. Of course Ari had lied. She had been just as guilty as he was. The memory together with the first crack of the ruler against her behind made her eyes tear up. She had not allowed herself to even think about Ari since she joined NCIS. Not even as the protective boy he had once been. _

_Ducky had his hand on her back, preventing her from standing up. The ruler hit its target again and images of her brother as a small innocent child began to flood her mind. She could see him playing with his friends and chasing her across the meadow outside their house. Once again the ruler connected with her behind. Tears started running down her cheeks. What had she done? She had killed that boy. She deserved to be punished. _

_Ziva felt the sharp pain in her behind but hardly even acknowledged it. She started sobbing. She was sobbing and crying because of the pain in her heart, not the one in her butt though._

"_I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Oh please, I'm so sorry!" she cried, hanging over the back of the chair. _

_Inside the head of Ducky_

_Ducky placed himself next to Ziva and the chair and watched her bend over the back of it. He gently put his hand on her back and took a deep breath, preparing himself for what needed to be done. By now he wished he could just give her one stroke and then let her go but he knew that would be breaking his promise to Gibbs to be fair with the girl. She deserved to be punished and needed to learn from it. _

_He pulled back his hand holding the ruler and allowed it to hit her bottom. The strange thing was that she didn't even jerk. It was as if she hadn't noticed the firm stroke he had given her. From his experience everyone noticed the first stroke. He paused a little longer than he knew he should, because of the surprise, but then allowed the ruler to hit its target again. Suddenly he could hear Ziva start to cry. He wasn't sure how to react because he found it very strange indeed. She had hardly reacted from the pain the first stroke delivered but she started to cry at the second one? That didn't seem right at all. He had even expected Ziva to be able to handle quite a lot. As the third stroke fell he could see her hardly bracing herself at all. She almost hung limp over the back of the chair, crying her heart out. He hesitated not sure of what to do, he really felt sorry for the poor girl in before him now. But then again maybe she had just never been spanked before and was crying unusually hard because of it. He continued and delivered the fourth stroke. As he did so Ziva started sobbing hard and cried out loud and clear:_

"_I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Oh please, I'm so sorry!" The old Medical Examiner's heart went out to this girl. He bent down a little and noticed the flood of tears running down her cheeks and realized that there must be something wrong. She would not act this way otherwise. And just as that thought entered his mind he heard Ziva cry out even louder, "I k-killed him! I-I killed my b-b-brother! It's all my fault...my fault." _

_Okay that was it. He no longer cared about his earlier promise to Gibbs or the way Ziva had acted before. Something was tearing her up inside and this was not helping. He just couldn't do this to her._

Ducky tossed the ruler aside and took hold of her arms, pulling her up from her position. When she was back to standing she continued to cry and felt her knees starting to buckle. Luckily Ducky was still holding on to her so she didn't fall to the floor, but was lowered down gently. Ducky sat down next to her and cradled her in his arms and just allowed her to cry.

To be continued


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Staying Focused

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on NCIS, I'm just borrowing them for the story.

A/N: Okay so this is the last chapter of this story. It took me a while to finish the chapter but I wanted to make sure I felt satisfied with it before posting it. I've had fun writing this story and I hope you've enjoyed reading it.

The idea of this story came to me when I remembered back to when I was a child and my teachers yelled at me for not staying focused. I had a big tendency to space out and still do sometimes and can even get comments about it now from people who care enough.

So please let me know what you think of the story and if you would like to see more stories with Ziva at this age. If you have any ideas to stories with her then please let me know those ideas, it would be nice to get some suggestions that will make it easier to come up with things to write.

Thanks for reading and thank you for all your kind reviews.

* * *

CHAPTER 7

Ziva was seated on a chair, almost covered with Ducky's large coat hanging from her shoulders to keep her warm. She was quiet. She did not feel like speaking at the moment. Her chest still ached with sadness from the sudden realization of her actions and she could feel Ducky watching her from a distance away.

Ducky wasn't sure what to say. There was obviously more going on with Ziva than he had realized and he didn't want to force her into a conversation about what she had revealed earlier. That was something that needed to be confronted. But not by him he realized. Ziva needed Gibbs for this. That was obvious to him now. The girl looked up to him like a father in a lot of ways and since she had so much inner turmoil that needed to be addressed perhaps even before she was punished, Gibbs should be the one to punish her this time. But also because this was the first time she was spanked since she came to NCIS and it was clear now that she needed her first spanking to be delivered by Gibbs in order to feel safe.

The Medical Examiner walked over to Ziva and she looked up at him with an expressionless face. "Ziva, I'm going to step up to the squad room to speak to Jethro for a minute." she nodded and he continued with a kind smile "Will you be all right here while I'm gone?"

She nodded again but refrained from speaking since she did not trust her voice. Her eyes were tired and puffy from crying and she silently brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She watched as Ducky left the room. She couldn't believe she had lost it like that. But the thought of Ari had completely taken over her mind and the remorse she felt for killing him had been brought to the surface. She mentally kicked herself for getting so emotional in front of Ducky. And now he was going to tell Gibbs and she was not sure how he was going to react. She had not physically prevented the punishment and she had not thought Ducky would choose to stop the way he did so it really was not her fault that she had gotten off so easily. But maybe Gibbs would not see it that way. Maybe he would carry out his threat and give her twice as much as Ducky had planned to as soon as he got down there. She shuddered at the thought of that.

* * *

Gibbs hit his computer keyboard with a loud thud and stood up, ready to step over to McGee's desk to tell him to fix whatever it was that had given his computer a will of its own the last couple of days. He didn't have time to though before the Agent was already at his desk, typing away in a haste to help out. He was about to sit down again when he spotted Ducky headed their way with a grim look on his face. Gibbs remained standing and nodded towards his chair for McGee to take a seat while he fixed the problem. He stepped in front of his desk as Ducky approached him.

"What did she do now, Ducky?" he asked with a sigh.

"Can we speak in private please, Jethro?" he asked, casting a glance at Tony seated at his desk, clearly listening to every word spoken.

Gibbs nodded and they started towards the elevator. Once inside Gibbs hit the emergency stop button and the elevator stopped, leaving them standing in a dim light. "I repeat, what did she do?" he asked. "Please tell me she didn't prevent you from punishing her."

"No no, that's not what happened, Jethro. Not at all. In fact I think I would have preferred that to what did happen."

Gibbs raised a brow and waited for him to continue. "Are you gonna make me guess, Duck?"

Ducky looked at him with a concerned face. "She completely fell apart, Jethro."

Gibbs gave a confused frown at that. "Fell apart how?" he asked. "Did you give her more than she could handle?"

"No. I gave her four strokes with the ruler." he admitted.

"Four strokes?" Gibbs said in disbelief. He couldn't believe Ziva had fallen apart as a result from four strokes. He felt confused at what Ducky was trying to tell him at the moment.

"Yes. And on the second one she started crying. But I got the distinct feeling that she was in fact crying because of something else than what I was punishing her for. "

Gibbs nodded for Ducky to go on. "And was she?"

"Yes I believe so. By the time I had given her four strokes the poor girl was completely beside herself with grief. I even heard her cry something about having killed her brother."

Ducky studied the face of the man he had known for so long, looking for a sign that he already knew what he was talking about. Gibbs showed nothing though. "Is that something you could perhaps shed some light upon, Jethro?"

"Perhaps."

"But you won't?"

"Nope."

"Well, that is your prerogative. I will not push the issue."

"Thanks, Duck." Gibbs started to hit the button again when Ducky put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"I will however inform you that I have changed my mind regarding Ziva's punishment."

"And?"

"I believe it would be better for her, this time, if you handled it. You are the person she has the most trust in and this being the first time she receives a spanking here and also adding to it the state she is in right now, it is my belief that she needs the person who delivers it to be you, Jethro." he took off his glasses and polished them with his sleeve, waiting for a response. Then he took advantage of the silent moment and added, "I do however not believe our earlier way of thinking was completely mistaken either. She did misbehave in autopsy and I was the one she was disrespectful towards and I want you to know that it is not my intent to in any way escape my responsibility here. It is simply because of the circumstances at hand that I am changing my mind. If she ever repeats the same mistake again I will handle it without any fuss."

Gibbs held up a hand to keep Ducky from going on even longer. "You don't have to try and convince me, Duck, I agree with you. Had I known Ziva was going to react this way I would have handled it myself right away." he reached for the button again and this time Ducky let him push it. They were now on their way down to autopsy.

"What are you going to do?" Ducky asked.

"Talk to her and sort this out. Then punish her for this morning." he stated firmly. "What are _you_ going to do?" he asked with a smirk.

Ducky looked up, smirking slightly himself. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't let her get away with less than I had planned for her so I will give her the rest of the punishment I was planning on informing her on after her spanking." he paused and then met Gibbs' questioning eyes and waved his hand at his face, "Oh, she'll stay after work Friday night and clean the floors in autopsy and the tools while I do inventory."

Gibbs gave a low whistle. "That's harsh, Ducky." he chuckled.

"Well, it might help remind her to pay attention during my lessons in the future. AND not to doze off while I am telling her anecdotes either for that matter." he frowned.

"And it will give you someone to talk to while you do inventory, which you happen to detest doing alone."

That last statement earned Gibbs a sullen glare from Ducky.

* * *

Ziva heard the elevator doors open and hurried to wipe at her face with her sleeve before Ducky and Gibbs entered. She did not want them to see her look such a mess but she had not found the strength to get up and go over to the sink to clean up either. The ruler was still on the table next to her and the coat hanging from her shoulders. She looked up and saw the two older men standing just inside the door looking at her. She was surprised to see that Gibbs did not look furious with her. Ducky had the same concerned expression as when he left but that did not surprise her. He was a gentle and very kind man and seeing her like this must have scared him half to death. She wished she could explain to him that he was not the reason to her earlier emotional breakdown. But she did not want anyone else besides Gibbs to know about Ari. The fewer who knew the better it was and the safer she was.

"I'll just head on up to the cafeteria." Ducky said, sensing their need for privacy. He gave Gibbs a pat on the shoulder and then turned and left him alone with his troublemaker.

Gibbs crossed the room and grabbed a chair on his way and placed it next to Ziva. "Want to tell me what that was all about?" he asked gently, arranging the coat which had slipped down a little so that it covered her again.

"I killed him, Gibbs. You know that. I killed Ari." she said in a low voice, barely above a whisper as she fidgeted with the hem of the coat and avoided looking at him.

Gibbs nodded. "Yes, you did."

"I...I started thinking of Ari when Ducky started to...you know" she blushed slightly even though she knew that he knew perfectly well what she meant.

"And you finally let out what you were feeling from that night in my basement." Gibbs filled in, "I've been waiting for you to show something, Ziva."

She looked up at him with tired eyes. "You have?"

"Mmhm. You jumped straight into things here at NCIS from having killed your brother and without much processing at all. My guess is that you shut off all your emotions on that subject and just carried on like nothing had happened. "

Ziva nodded. It was true. That was exactly what she had done and almost without realizing it herself. She had been so busy making up a believable story for her father and Mossad and then starting her new life at NCIS that she just had not given much thought to the fact that she had killed Ari. Or the guilt she was feeling. "Gibbs, it is my fault that..." she started but stopped when she saw him shake his head slowly, never taking his eyes off her.

"No, Ziva. It's not your fault that Ari is dead."

"But I am the one who pulled the trigger!" tears sprung to her eyes again and she let one fall, quickly brushing it away as soon as she felt it find its way down her cheek.

"Your brother killed himself. He was the one who chose to become what he became. He killed Kate, and many others. And not as a soldier during battle, but as a killer in cold blood. He needed to be stopped. And he would have been stopped sooner or later. Had you not chosen to help me then I would have found a way to kill him myself."

Ziva knew that Gibbs spoke the truth. He had never lied to her. He was different that way from her father. Gibbs was speaking from his heart to her now but she still did not fully agree with him.

"Gibbs, Ari was not always that way. He was a caring and protective big brother to me when we were children." she said, hoping she was not risking to anger her mentor by bringing up her brother's good sides. He had after all killed a person Gibbs loved.

But Gibbs always seemed to be able to read what was on her mind. "Ziva, it's okay to remember him that way. But right now I think your memories of him is what's making you feel so guilty. You remember the caring big brother he was to you when you were children. But you need to remind yourself that that was not the person you killed while he was pointing a sniper rifle at me." he put his index finger under her chin and tilted it so that their eyes met again, "People change."

She nodded in agreement and this time let the tears that burned her eyes fall. He moved his chair closer and took her into his arms and held her for a few minutes while she cried her sorrows out. "It's not your fault." he repeated quietly into her ear. "Are we clear on that?" she nodded into his chest. "You saved my life by killing Ari. And because of that you now carry this pain." She pulled away to look at him and try to read what was on _his_ mind for once. But as usual she could not tell much from looking at him. There was one thing though that shone through that mask of steel he often seemed to wear, and that was gratitude. "I can't change anything, Ziva, but I will do my best to teach you everything I know and keep you safe while doing so. That is a promise."

Gibbs never apologized, she knew that, but he was capable of making promises and she had a feeling he probably kept them as well. She was under his protection now. She was also his responsibility, but that was something Director Shepherd had informed her of months ago. She was to follow his lead and do as she was told at all times. That was the condition for her staying with the Agency even though she was really much too young.

"Thank you, Gibbs." she said and was happy to hear that her voice was returning to its normal state again. Then her eyes fell on the dreadful instrument on the table and she quickly diverted them to somewhere else, hoping Gibbs had not noticed her glance. Peeking at him she saw the sparkle in his eyes at her attempt at discretion and to prolong the inevitable. Damn it, she thought.

"You know what I'm going to do before we leave here, don't you?"

She sighed. Of course she knew. As if she could have forgotten what he was going to do. That was not something one just forgot no matter how upset one was. "Yes." she simply answered.

"We _will _deal with what happened this morning, Ziva. There is no way out of that." he said.

Her eyes grew a little wider and she cleared her throat. "Gibbs, I want you to know that I did not mean to keep Ducky from punishing me. I did not know he was going to stop." she explained, hoping he would see that she had not intended to trick the Medical Examiner in any way. She studied his face carefully to try and see if the anger had returned or if he was willing to listen to her excuse.

"Mmhm."

She waited for him to say something more but he kept quiet, "So...are you still going to do what you said you'd do?" she asked in an uncertain voice, while she hung her head a little but not so much that she couldn't meet his stare while she waited for an answer.

Gibbs took Ducky's coat from her and carefully folded it and put it on the table next to them. "Well, I'm not sure exactly how severely Ducky was planning on punishing you." he looked at the girl sitting before him, dreading her sentence and took pity on her by not making her wait longer than necessary for her punishment, "So I can't really give you twice as much." he smirked when he heard a small sigh of relief from Ziva, "So I'm just going to give you what you would have gotten from me in the first place if we had decided I would be the one to handle your punishment." he watched her pale a little. She was smart enough to realize that that wasn't really a good thing. Gibbs wasn't exactly known for doing things halfway.

In a way she was glad Gibbs would be the one punishing her. It made her feel safe and protected. Not that she did not trust Ducky, but there was a familiarity with Gibbs and somehow she felt like she knew what to expect from him even though he had actually never spanked her before. He was the first person she had met in her life that she trusted completely.

Gibbs motioned for her to stand up so she did. He took her chair which was pretty tall and moved it away from the table. She assumed he was going to have her bend over the back of it the way Ducky had but soon realized that would not be possible since the chair was too tall this time. He beckoned her with his finger the way he always did when he had something important to say and she started making her way over to him on slightly trembling legs. When she reached her destination and stood before him he fixed her with a serious stare. "You understand that what you did this morning was wrong and why I'm going to do this? "

She nodded and tried to look away, thinking she could at least spare herself from having to look at him while he scolded her.

"Look at me!". Her head snapped back up and she received a warning look not to repeat the same mistake again. "This morning you acted like a child, Ziva. I know you're very young but you are old enough to know that you don't do what you did. You should also know that there are consequences for bad behavior and with me those consequences will always fit the crime."

She frowned, not sure what he was getting at.

Having said that Gibbs took a seat and took Ziva by the arm. He started to pull her over his knee, helping her since he was sitting unusually high up by wrapping his other arm around her waist to lift her slightly. Her breath hitched and she put her free hand against his shoulder and pressed herself up again. "What are you doing?!" she asked in horror and mortification. "You are not seriously considering..." she could not bring herself to finish the sentence. Alright so she had messed up and acted badly yes. But she was no child. And if he put her over his knee while seated on that chair her feet would not even be able to touch the ground. She would be helplessly trapped, and _that _was something she did not want.

As he felt her begin to struggle Gibbs took her chin in his hand and looked her straight in the eyes. "That's enough!" he said, not in full Gunny voice, but close to it. "Like I said, the punishment will fit the crime and since you acted like a child you are going over my knee this time. I am _not_ giving you a choice."

"Gibbs...please...Can't I just bend over the back of the chair or the table or...anything." she pleaded, feeling panic was near now.

He shook his head determinedly, keeping a firm grip on her upper left arm to prevent her from moving away from him. But then he was hit by a thought and that thought was that there was no harm in allowing her to realize what he had already realized when hearing Ducky speak earlier. He let go of her arm and stood up again. He then went to retrieve the chair Ducky had used earlier and put it next to where she was now standing, indicating that she should bend over the back of it.

Ziva was stunned. She had not thought he would be so easily persuaded. Not that she was not thankful. She slowly bent over the back of the chair and held on to its edges. She felt him place a hand on her back and then to her surprise her stomach churned and tears sprung to her eyes again. She felt so alone and abandoned and she did not know what to do with herself and her emotions to make it stop. She tried to stand back up but his hand prevented her from moving from her position. Tears fell and she let out a sob. "Please, Gibbs." she sobbed, "I cannot do this. Let me up. I will take it the other way." she was not sure herself why she suddenly preferred to be over his knee. All she knew was that this was not working for her. She could not stand this feeling of being punished while being completely on her own without anybody to help her.

Gibbs sighed. He didn't like hearing her cry. But this confirmed what he already knew. "Ziva..."he began with a sigh, "Perhaps now you understand why I think it's best to put you over my knee for this. You need to be close to someone. You need the physical contact of a real person while you're being punished, not the feeling of having to restrain yourself and the hard surface of an object underneath you."

"You don't do this to anyone else on the team, do you?" she asked referring to the over the knee part of the punishment.

"No." Gibbs replied. "But you are younger than they are. Therefore I choose to do it this way. It might also remind you to stay out of trouble unless you want to find yourself in this position again. Secondly you also have a different background, which is probably why you need this." he said as he helped her to her feet. He took a seat on the tall chair again and took hold of her arm and wrapped the other one around her waist and lifted her over his knee. She did not struggle this time, she did however blush furiously, feeling extremely embarrassed, even though she knew he was right.

Gibbs glanced at the ruler over on the table and realized he had forgotten to bring it with him. But then he looked at the sniffling girl over his lap and decided it wasn't necessary. She had suffered enough today just from bad memories and Ducky had already used the ruler on her once.

Ziva looked up as much as her current position allowed her and confirmed her belief that the ruler was still on the table. And Gibbs had not taken off his belt, thank God for that, she thought. But what was he going to use then? She turned her head and saw him raise his right hand. She quickly turned her head back again and clamped her eyes shut as his hand made contact with her poor behind. It hurt, but not as much as she had feared...at first. Ten swats later though she was convinced his hand was not flesh and bone but made of much harder material. Perhaps wood or iron. It was strange how much the spanking hurt and she could not help but try to wriggle away from his hand. But since her feet were not in contact with the ground in any way and he was keeping a firm hold on her, there was no way she could get up until he was finished. The hand came down with full force over and over again, covering her entire bottom with hard swats making her yelp. She lost count somewhere around twenty and instead let her head and arms just hang down along the left side of the chair while she sobbed.

When Gibbs sensed she was reaching the point when she had had enough he began to lecture, intending to really make this lesson stick. "You will never choose to let your thoughts drift off during a class again like you did this morning! You will be on time! You will control that temper of yours! You WILL stay focused and listen to instructions you are given! And you will never, NEVER be disrespectful to anyone the way you were to Ducky again!" he focused his attention on the lower part of her bottom, making sure she would feel every stinging smack every time she sat down for some time to come. "and if I EVER hear you have done any of those things again you will find yourself right back here. Only next time you will loose your pants first and I won't be using just my hand."

She shook her head violently, not even wanting to consider that awful thought. The pain would be a lot worse not to mention the humiliation. Her tears were almost blinding her and she was so sorry for what she had done. And this time she was not thinking about Ari, but of the incident with Ducky earlier that day. "Please stop Gibbs! Ow! I..I w...won't do it again! Ow, ow! I..I..I am sooo so...sorr...sorry. Please...Ow!"

He delivered five extra hard swats to her sit spot. She kicked her legs and squirmed involuntarily. It hurt and she was willing to promise anything if it meant he would stop and let her up. However she was not afraid. And she was not alone. He was there for her. Holding on to her and helping her. This spanking was not at all the way she remembered the spankings she had received as a child by her father. He had made her bend over a bed, or the back of a chair or a desk or whatever was close by and he had hardly discussed what she had done wrong before punishing her, or afterward for that matter. Usually she knew anyway, by herself, but there were times that she had not been informed at all of what her mistakes had been and still had to suffer through the hard spanking without hearing him say a word before, during or after it. And there had been no comfort offered when it was over. He had always just dropped the instrument he had been using, turned around and left her crying on the floor from fear and shame and regret.

Suddenly the spanking stopped and she felt Gibbs rubbing circles on her back and to calm her and murmur, "Okay, Ziva, it's over now. Take a deep breath." he instructed her soothingly.

They stayed that way for a few minutes while she cried herself out, surprised herself that she felt she could allow herself to be seen in this weakened state by Gibbs. Usually she did not let anyone see her cry. But she felt she could trust him. Finally she felt his arm around her waist again, helping her off his knees to stand up. He stood as well and then gathered her into a hug. She melted into his embrace and put her head on his shoulder.

When they pulled apart Gibbs looked at her a little more sternly again and said, "You have to understand that I did not do this _just_ to teach you to stay focused because not doing so is rude to the person holding the lecture, but also because it's essential for you to stay focused and take in important information. It doesn't matter if you are bored, or tired or even injured. You have got to stay focused for your own sake because otherwise, doing this job, you could get hurt in the field. Or even killed, if you don't listen to the info provided before we head out there."

She listened quietly and nodded, really wanting to reach back and rub some of the sting off her throbbing behind. She did not dare to though, not until Gibbs was finished. She did not want to end up back over his knee.

"Are we clear on this?" he asked, searching her eyes.

"Yes, Sir." she said, even though she knew he did not want to be called that. She felt it was appropriate at the moment to make him really see that she understood and would do her best to stay focused in the future.

"All right." he walked over to the table and took the ruler in his hand. When Ziva saw what he was doing she took a small step back but he just chuckled, "Don't worry I'm not planning on using it." he walked over to Ducky's desk and put the ruler back in one of the drawers. "I hope you understand that I hated doing what I just did to you." he said in a sad voice and without anger. He walked back to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Things are pretty quiet up there today so you can take an hour to yourself to compose, and to talk to Ducky who will be coming down here soon."

Ziva did not object. She needed a little time to herself before going back to work and having to face her coworkers.

As Gibbs left the room Ziva stood by the sink and splashing water on her face. She looked at her reflection and smiled. At least she had done good thing that night in Gibbs' basement. She had saved the life of a good man. A man who cared for her like a daughter.

* * *

Ziva was standing in the middle of autopsy, just patiently awaiting Ducky's return. She appreciated that he had apparently stayed away a little longer to give her some extra time to herself before returning. She had needed that. She glanced over at one of the chairs longingly. Her legs were starting to get tired. She had after all been standing for most of the day. She trudged over to one of the chairs and gingerly lowered herself down on it. She winced from the pain in her butt as she sat down and almost jumped up from her seat again as the doors suddenly opened and Ducky entered with rapid steps. He took one look at her and realized he had walked in at a private moment. It was too late to do anything about that now though so he just continued to cross the room, headed straight to his cupboard. Ziva noticed he was carrying a kettle in his hand. Ducky retrieved his tea set on a large tray from the cupboard and walked over to one of the autopsy tables that usually had the corpse he was working on laying on it. He placed the tray on the autopsy table and placed one cup in front of Ziva and then walked back to the cupboard.

"Ducky, what are you doing?" Ziva asked in disbelief.

"Well, what does it look like I'm doing, my dear? I'm making us some hot tea." He held up a bag with cinnamon rolls, "Care for one? They are homemade."

She nodded gratefully and smiled at the old man. Her smile faded as a thought entered her mind,"But why are you being so kind to me after the way I acted this morning?" she asked.

"Judging from the way you are squirming in your seat I am guessing that Jethro _"discussed"_ the matter with you." he said with a wink, making her blush and make an even bigger effort to sit still, "That means it's over and you are forgiven. No need for me to keep reminding you of the incident."

"You will forgive me just like that? This easily?" she asked with a confused frown.

"Easily? You mean Jethro went easy on you? Perhaps what you got wasn't enough and I should...?" he trailed off teasingly, taking a threatening step toward his desk where she knew the ruler was kept.

Ziva threw her hands up in front of her and shook her head, "Oh no no no, that is not what I mean, Ducky. He did a very thorough job and I am grateful you are so forgiving." she switched to a humble expression as she continued, "It is just that..well, I never even said I was sorry...to you. Or actually I did say it but I did not mean it as much as I do now. And then you go and forgive me any way and...well...thank you."

Ducky grinned warmly at the girl. It was nice to see her smile appear again. It had been a while since he had had the pleasure of seeing it. She was a good person and deserved to be happy. "My dear, forgiving you was not a difficult task, in fact it was very easy." he picked up the kettle and poured the steaming hot water into her cup and put a tea hood over the kettle to keep its contents warm. "Now, _you_ look like you could use some of this."

She brought the cup to her lips and took a sip, "Thank you."

"I trust you two also sorted out what made you so distressed earlier?" he said carefully, not wanting to risk upsetting her again.

She looked up from her tea with a small smile playing on her lips, "Yes, we did." she assured him.

He nodded without further questions. What ever it was Jethro had handled it and that was all he needed to know.

"And Ducky? I am sorry."

Sensing her need to say the words Ducky just nodded and held out the bag with cinnamon rolls to her.

She was forgiven.

_**The End**_


End file.
